Saturday, August 6, 2016

Have we built an infrastructure that's too big to maintain?

"Simply, un-paving is less expensive than repaving as petroleum-base
asphalt isn’t cheap. Faced with dwindling annual road repair budgets,
rural towns like Montpelier are finding that regressing saves a
significant amount of cash — cash that might be better used for larger
and more urgent infrastructure needs. Case in point: by un-paving in
lieu of repaving Bliss Road, a notoriously pothole-y lane just outside
of town, Montpelier saved $120,000. With a population hovering just
above 7,000, the city’s annual road repair budget is a mere $1.3
million.
If Montpelier’s happens to become flush with dedicated funds for
road repair projects in the near future, workers can always go back and
repave."

This article fits into my concern that we have built an infrastructure that's too big to maintain. Here in my home town, the main street needed to be rebuilt. It will take 3 years to accomplish. That's 3 years with the 4-lane road reduced to 2 lanes. And then it's good to go for 30 or so years. But also, it's on to all the other roads in town that need maintenance.

Have we built our infrastructure without thinking about how or whether we can maintain it all? Roads, bridges, equipment, on and on?